Odds and Ends Thursday 62

I realized today teaching-wise most school days only last the first 3 periods for me. It seems like more often than not lately I’ve been tasked with some sort of odd job that precludes me from teaching the second half of the school day—almost always not by choice. Friday the school secretary needed my help re-constructing an Excel spreadsheet in order to register the year 12s for the School Certificate exams, yesterday was that strange cross-town odyssey, the day before was spent taking class photos of 6 form classes. I’m happy for the change in routine, but I’m a little worried about falling behind in the curriculum. Here are some other odds and ends from the week:

• Chris 81 took the silhouette photo above with my camera during tonight's soccer game. Thanks, Chris.
• I don’t wear shin guards during our soccer matches. This has taught me a valuable lesson in why soccer players usually wear shin guards.
  
• As much as I’ve been down on soccer, it’s really fun. I’m glad we joined the league, and I hope I can find a winter league when I get back to The States.
  
• Yesterday at Interval one of the year 13 maths teachers gave me this problem:
  
  Express the following in sigma notation: 2.3 + 2.9 + 2.27 + ... + 2.729.
  My solution, which took me about a minute to come up with, is at the bottom of this post. As it turned out, the text book’s solution was much simpler because the dots in the problem above aren’t supposed to be decimals, they’re supposed to be multiplication dots (i.e. 2•3 + 2•9 + 2•27 + ... + 2•729).
  
• Jen, Tommy, and I ate at Paddles Restaurant on Monday night. I’d never been there before. It was delicious.
  
• You should check out The Moth Podcast. I particularly enjoyed this week’s show with Juliet Wayne and Brad Lawrence. As soon as it was over I replayed the whole thing. That never happens.
  
• I admit I lied to Andy the Austrian at Seki ā Pizza and told him I was an American tourist working at CNET heading toward Sydney after my brief stint in Samoa. But after a while explaining my Peace Corps status becomes tedious. You know?
  
• Despite a cursory-plus knowledge of Samoan, I teach almost exclusively in English... to an extent I’m not sure I realize. In casual conversation with year 13 Amanda (who makes the blog somewhat regularly) I used the term toeitiiti, almost/soon, and the phrase ou te lē iloa, I don’t know. She and the other year 13s in the room were taken aback. “It’s good that you’re picking up some Samoan, Mister.” I swear I use both of those about 100 times a week.
  
• I didn’t realize there are two “little boats”. When I posted about the little boat recently, I took the Samoa Express, which has absolutely no passenger seating. This past weekend, Jen, Tommy, and I took the Lady Samoa I, which has a few-but-essential benches for passenger seating. We were able to sit in the shade in both directions. Seki ā matou.
  
• Waves were choppy on the ferry back to Upolu. A kid in the row behind me threw up. I was enthralled in my book, and I wouldn’t have noticed had the spew not splashed on my leg. Later in the boat ride a girl in my own row threw up. Once again, splash. Gross.

That’s all I got for this week. I hope you’re well. Pictures below.

Pictures Year 13 Amanda took with my camera last Friday. This is the year 13 geography class.

Maria from my computer class posing by the pool at Le Vasa Resort on the south side of Upolu.

Girls giving some tourists a thrill.

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Posing with a surfer dude.

Answer to the sigma notation problem above.